


Arrivals

by G_the_G



Series: Avengers University [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Grad Student Darcy, I'm Ridiculously Excited About This, Professor Jane, Professor Thor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-14 23:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10546420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/G_the_G/pseuds/G_the_G
Summary: Jane goes to pick up a very special guest.





	

Jane made a mental checklist as she parked the car. She was picking up Dr. Odinson, and since he’d insisted he didn’t really get jet-lagged, the symposium started the next day. Because all the lectures and talks were only going to last three days, she and Darcy then only needed to keep him busy for two days. And the last day they’d planned a welcoming/going away party. That only left one day to try and remember all her social niceties and play well. It could be worse. It could be far worse.

Despite still worrying about jinxing it all and dooming herself to academic ridicule and then obscurity, Jane told herself that things had been going rather smoothly. Admittedly, that might have been because she had finally caved and got an actual TA. Well, more Darcy had found some kid named Ian who wanted to work for her and now she had a TA. But that didn’t stop Jane from drafting Darcy to help with getting stuff ready. Even though there had been complaints about slave labor and forcing an unwell woman to work, she didn’t have anyone else with the skills to get the banners and art done. At least not in a way that wouldn’t make it obvious a science person without any artistic skills had done it.

Besides, it must have been a good distraction since Darcy had called asking for more information on this Thor Odinson several times. Why was he such a hot commodity? Did she think he’d have a great accent? Who even named their child Thor? Had Jane had actually seen a picture of him?

Begrudgingly, Jane had taken time to answer each new query as it arose. How his theories were both very traditional, but strangely revolutionary, taking factors that no one else bothered thinking about into consideration with his equations. Not to mention the fact that his parents were pioneers in the field and he was pretty much astrophysics royalty. That he probably did have at least some of an accent, but since much of his schooling had been in the UK, it was probably a weird mesh of linguistic features at this point. That many people named their children Thor once upon a time, and that it wasn’t that uncommon even back in the 80s. And why would it matter if she had seen a picture?

But now as she walked to the airport terminal, all the questions were answered, the symposium set up, all prep was done, and everything was silent on the Darcy front, so she just had to go hold up a sign with his name, hope he saw her amongst everyone else, and get back to the university without any mishap. And hopefully carve out a good five hours at some point in the next week to figure out why her last set of readings had been so different from the previous ones.

She stationed herself in front of arrivals a good fifteen minutes before Dr. Odinson’s flight was scheduled to land, held up her paper that she’d hastily scrawled his name on, and began to wait. Could those numbers have been a fluke? There’d been some storms building and making their way up from the south, maybe they’d been throwing the readings off. But her equipment had been fine the previous year, despite all the hurricanes that had blown through. Maybe Stark had come and done some of those ill-advised, dumbass tweaks he’d been talking about. If he even laid one hand on her babies-.

Suddenly,  a large, smiling man loomed up in front of her.

“Dr. Foster?”

He was enormous. She craned her neck to look up. And up before finally seeing his face. And what a face. Tall and chiseled, heinously-handsome, and with a long sweep of blonde hair that was pulled back into a make-shift bun that she could see a pen sticking out of. Altogether, he was nothing like she’d ever seen before. Especially not in an academic who focused on the hard sciences. Poetry maybe, but not astrophysics.

“Dr. Odinson?”

“Please, call me Thor!”

She half-winced, worried his exuberant voice would reverberate off the airport walls. But her lips curled into an awkward smile as she held out her hand to shake his. However,instead of grabbing her hand, he eagerly pulled her in for a hug. And that made it worse. Not because it was a bad hug. The sign crinkled between them because she’d never put it down, but he was so very warm and so very solid, and enthusiastically holding her closer for far longer than she thought was probably socially acceptable. Although she wasn’t the best judge on that front.

“Sorry,” he murmured pulling back and setting her down before she even realized he’d lifted her off the ground. He stepped back, clasping holding his hands together as though contrite. “I forget myself sometimes. Most certainly when I am excited to meet someone. But there’s much I wish to discuss with you about your theories on the Einstein-Rosen bridge.”

Jane had read all of his papers, the man was a leader throughout Europe and many looked up to his work in the States. But she had never expected him to do any research on her. After all, he was the guest speaker, the celebrity to draw people in. So, she paused for a moment, folding the woefully smushed sign and putting it away to stall for time. “Oh really?”

“Yes, your theories are very different than what we have been doing for our research.”

“I’m not surprised,” she muttered, ready to defend herself once again to another chauvinistic academic elite. They always hated when she tried to change the status quo. And whether it was snide asides at conferences, thinly veiled articles attacking her position, or completely passive aggressive emails, she’d seen it all.

But his smile stayed bright and kind.

“I am not surprised either. For we have not had any success. So you must tell me how you’ve fared and how exactly your theories differ.”

Jane stilled and focused on his beatific grin at a loss for words. He damn well should be wanting to discuss her theories. But she’d never expected to have them this welcomed. Especially not by a renowned expert. Most especially one who just happened to look like that and who kept looking at her like that. Like he wanted to pull her in for another hug; not one that had anything to do with introductory excitement. And she was not prepared for how he had her heart beating and cheeks flushing in ways that had nothing to do with the intellectual compliment.

“I’d love to talk about them. If you’ll give me just a moment, I’m going to run to the restroom really quick before we get started back.”

He nodded, repositioning his messenger bag on his shoulder. “Of course, I’ll wait for you here.”

She hurried off, bee-lining for the bathroom she’d passed earlier, quickly taking refuge in the first stall. After a couple moments of holding her cool hands to her cheeks, she pulled out her cell phone to text Darcy.

**I hate you.**

The response was immediate, almost as if her friend been waiting for a reaction. Traitor.

_Now why would you say that, boss lady?_

**You should have shown me a picture.**

Darcy sent a gif of someone who was no doubt very famous. While Jane had no idea who it was, what mattered was that they were laughing hysterically. Something she was sure Darcy was also doing right that that moment, especially considering her follow-up message.

_And spoil the surprise? Never. Have a good drive back!_

She grumbled, but couldn’t help an excited smile as she put her phone away and thought about what hypothesis she wanted to talk about first on the drive back.


End file.
